Expedition Earth: AFRICA - Egypt

This week we resumed our Expedition Earth travels.  Since we are going to be going on a journey to South Africa in four weeks time we decided to visit the Continent of Africa starting in Egypt.

Mummification Experiment.

We learned

• That kings and special people were buried in pyramids.
• The king of Ancient Egypt was called a Pharaoh.
• Egypt is in Africa.
• The secret of how pyramids were constructed has been discovered.
• They painted pictures on the walls inside the pyramids.
• A lot of the things we use today were invented in ancient Egypt (time, 365 day year, locks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs etc)
• There were no roads in Egypt because they used the Nile to get around.
• Paper was made from papyrus and they used pictures to write words.
• We did a Mummification Experiment. (results to come next week)
• A mummy is a dead person.
• We baked Egyptian style cookies and shared a cup of tea. (We had to add an extra table spoon of butter because the mixture was a little dry.)
• Sir N's favourite thing was the pyramids. (We built a 3 D model of Kufu's Pyramid)
• Egypt has the largest Muslim population in the world at over 80 000 000.
• They use Egyptian Pounds and some of their coins have holes in them.
• The Egyptian Flag has red at the top, white in the middle and black at the bottom. It also has a gold bird in the middle.

We baked Egyptian style cookies

Our Resources this week

Books

• From Sonlight
  Usborne Time Traveler
  Usborne World Geography
  Usborne Living Long Ago
  The Usborne Children's Encyclopedia I'm using the old version.
• From the library
  Why were mummies wrapped ?
  This is my culture: Egypt
  Earth's Continents: Africa
  Starting History: The Egyptians

Maping

• Egypt Shutterfold Map on Homeschool Share.

Notebook Pages

• 3D Ancient Egypt Lapbook over at Practical Pages
• Paper Dolls from Practical Pages. 
• A Unit Study for Homeschool on Squidoo Ancient Egypt.
• Africa Resources Page on Homeschool Share.
• Africa Three Part Cards by Karen Briguaglio
• African Animal Cards by Molly Boulter
• Notebooking Pages from Notebooking Pages.com
• Expedition Earth from Confessions of a Home Schooler 
• Ancient Egyptian Printables from Activity Village.

Internet

• World Fact Book: Egypt.
• Egyptian Currency. 
• About the Egyptian Flag.
• How were Mummies made ? at The British Museum a Step by Step process. (down loadable PowerPoint presentation for 7-11 yearolds.) 
• Egyptian Mummy Experiment with apples from over at Confessions of a Homeschooler.
• The British Museum Ancient Egypt
• Melt-In-Mouth Cookies, Egyptian Style - Ghorayebah 

Craft

• Great Pyramid of Khufu, Egypt From Paper Craft at Canon.
• Sphinx, Egypt from Paper Craft at Canon
• Make your own cartouche (cartouche Generator)
• Design a Sarcophagus over at Activity Village 

YouTube

• Pavlína - classical egyptian dance - baed anak
• The Pyramids in Egypt - National Geographic 
• Great Pyramid Mystery Solved 
• The Mummification Process 
• Tutankhamun
• Food Safari - Egyptian 
• Fertilty of the Nile - Nile - BBC
• The River Nile splits - BBC 
• The Land Re-emerges - Nile - BBC 
• Egypt - National Geographic Traveler 
• Egyptian National Anthem 
• Suez Canal Time Lapse on YouTube
• How Canals Work on YouTube

Wildlife Study

• Animal life on the shores of the blue Nile - BBC Earth

Sand Cat

• Sand Cat over at BBC Science & Nature
• What is a SAND CAT ? on YouTube.
• Sand Cat Kittens at Cincinnati Zoo

Nile Crocodile

• Nile Crocodile at BBC
• Diving with wild Crocodiles.
• Nile Crocodile on National Geographic
• Nile Crocodile on National Geographic Kids
• The Worlds Largest Crocodile on YouTube.

Horned Viper

• Who Zoo
• Horned Viper on YouTube

Jackal

• Wikipedia
• Amazing Preditor on YouTube
• Jackal Pup in Sinai Egypt on YouTube.

Vulture

• Egyptian Vulture on Homestead.
• Wikipedia
• Egyptian Vulture breaking egg on YouTube.

Flamingo

• Andean flamingo mating dance on YouTube
• Its not walk like an Egyptian but walk like a Flamingo!on YouTube 
• The Greatest Pink Show on Earth on YouTube 

Blessings
Chareen 
This post is linking to: 
Learning All the Time Favourite Resources ,Homegrown Learners Collage Friday, Red Oak Lane Share Your Ideas and Learning All the Time  Look what We did.

An afternoon at WORZ

Today was a wonderful day with an afternoon of exploring Werribee Open Range Zoo.

We started our afternoon with a Serval Presentation and behind the scenes encounter.

Next we took a bus trip through the grasslands.

In the Kubu reserve we had a look at hippo, the boat and hippo play area.

Next we had a look at the Tourist Hut with a murial painted by Graeme Base.

We spent a brief time exploring the Pula walk looking at lions, wild dogs and meerkats.

We then proceeded to the classroom area where we were able to see all sorts of animals being fed.

Blessings
Chareen
Post is linking with: Homegrown Learners: Collage Friday.

FORD Museum

Well this week has certainly been an unusual one for us.  We will be going on three day trips.  Monday's trip to Science Works had been booked in over a month ago. Earlier this week I received a phone call from a friend saying she had booked to go to the FORD Museum (Discovery Center) and could no longer attend would Sir N and I like to go ?  Oh yes please !

The discovery center is well laid out and interesting. Down stairs starts with a time line in Fords History. The first car on display is a replica of Henry's Quadcycle built in  1896. From here we had a look at the Model T and Model A which was designed by his son. As you walk along there are mini displays of each decade in Fords History highlighting their milestones. We had two tour guides who gave us an excellent brief history of FORD and FORD in Australia.

Next we went upstairs and learned about the production process from ideas, to paper, to clay model and safety testing.

Upon completion of the tour the students were given an opportunity to design a car and make a clay model of their design. Lots of fun had by all.  We were then given the freedom to spend as much time exploring as we wanted in the museum. 

I purchased Time For Kids Biography: Henry Ford Putting the World on Wheels to read as a follow up to our field trip.

Some of the interesting things we learned are:

• Henry chose black paint for the Model T because it dried the fastest.
• The first V8 car produced for the market was in 1932.
• The UTE vehicle was designed in Geelong after a farmers wife wrote a letter asking them if they could make a car that the family could use to go to church on Sunday and take the pigs to market on Monday.
• Once a car has passed the paper stage of design it is made into a full sized clay model weighing over two tons.
• The interior of a car is also designed in clay before production is started.
• Henry's first engine was called a sink engine because he made it on a sink!
• Welding robots are used because of safety and because the job causes a lot of repetitive strain injuries in people. 

The Ford Discovery website is full of interesting information and you can take a virtual tour and see where we spent our day.

Blessings
Chareen
Post is linking with: Homegrown Learners: Collage Friday.